1. Field
The present invention relates generally to computer networking and, more specifically, to automatically determining link speed between link partners using multi-speed fiber modules.
2. Description
Difficulties exist in some computing systems for exchanging link speed capabilities between partners. When each link partner supports only one, and the same, communications speed, there is no problem. However, in some cases, a network interface controller (NIC) or switch may include a multispeed fiber module. A multispeed fiber module is a module that is capable of two or more communications link speeds over a fiber optic link. A multispeed fiber module has no way to automatically determine the highest common link speed that can be used with its link partner. The link partners may either fail to establish a link at the highest common speed, or fail to establish a link at all. This problem is currently solved by requiring a computer system user to force the desired link speed manually on each link partner. In a case where the user does not have access to each link partner's configuration settings, it may not be possible for the user to force the link speed setting, thus reducing performance of the network devices.